Strategic Design
VicRoads Innovation Process
Building a repeatable approach for rapid innovation
A strategic-design initiative to translate open-innovation thinking into a VicRoads-specific process that could support experimentation, collaboration and repeatable delivery rather than isolated innovation activity.
Selected project evidence
The work behind the outcome.
Research, journeys, prototypes and delivered outputs selected to show how the project moved from evidence to decision and delivery.
The VicRoads source material set out an open innovation approach designed to lower barriers, speed up experimentation and create a repeatable path for testing new products, services, tools and processes.
The canvas connected purpose, organisation, resources, methods, place, sponsorship, ecosystem, assets and measurable deliverables into one operating model.
The process deliberately combined design thinking, agile ways of working, data and facilitation rather than prescribing one rigid delivery method.
Collaborative working practices gave teams a practical environment for making assumptions visible, testing ideas and moving faster from problem framing to experimentation.
The opportunity
A strategic-design initiative to translate open-innovation thinking into a VicRoads-specific process that could support experimentation, collaboration and repeatable delivery rather than isolated innovation activity.
My contribution
I helped adapt the open-innovation model to the VicRoads context, turning broad innovation principles into a practical operating canvas covering purpose, governance, methods, ecosystem, resources and measurable outcomes.
Context and challenge
Innovation was happening across VicRoads, but isolated projects and conventional delivery structures made it difficult to create a repeatable environment for experimentation. The opportunity was to define a process that could remove traditional barriers to change, connect people across organisational boundaries and help promising ideas move more quickly from exploration to pilot.
The work needed to be more than a workshop method or a physical “innovation lab”. It had to connect long-term business purpose with governance, skills, ways of working, sponsorship, ecosystem partners, resources and measures of success.
My role
- Adapted open-innovation thinking to the VicRoads operating context.
- Helped frame the purpose and value proposition for a repeatable innovation process.
- Connected governance, sponsorship, resources and team structure with practical delivery methods.
- Defined how design thinking, agile practice, data and facilitation could be combined flexibly.
- Structured the process around a canvas that could be revisited and refined over time.
Strategic design response
Start with purpose, not a lab
The model began by making a direct connection between innovation and business objectives. The process needed a clear reason to exist and a shared view of the value it was expected to create.
Design the operating system around the work
The process connected organisation, resources, methods and place rather than treating any one of them as the solution. Governance and team structure provided enough clarity to operate, while flexibility was preserved so teams could adapt to different innovation problems.
Create the conditions for collaboration
Sponsors, ecosystem partners and shared assets were treated as active enablers. The intent was to strengthen connections between decision-makers, delivery teams and external partners so experimentation could happen with real organisational support.
Measure value beyond activity
Deliverables and KPIs were included in the model so innovation could be assessed through business outcomes as well as qualitative measures such as capability, collaboration and culture.
Outcome and impact
- A VicRoads-specific Open Innovation Process canvas and operating model.
- A shared structure for purpose, sponsorship, governance, methods, resources and ecosystem participation.
- A practical reference for shaping innovation activity around repeatable organisational capability rather than isolated projects.
- A framework designed to evolve as the organisation learned what worked.
Why it matters
Innovation capability is created by the system around the work, not by ideation alone. The process made that system explicit and gave VicRoads a practical way to connect experimentation with strategy, people, governance and measurable value.